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  • The Best Habits To Stay Energized

    The Best Habits To Stay Energized

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    There are many things to enjoy during the day, but sometimes it seems the energy is not there to take advantage of opportunities presented. Having full energy usually means you have a great chance at consistent happiness. Being energetic typically revolves around bursts of prolonged activity, your physical health will likely improve alongside your mental health. Being short of energy is normal, but longer term periods of low energy could mean other things and you might want to get it checked out with a medical professional. To get in a good groove, here are the best habits to stay energized.

    RELATED: Science Explains How Marijuana Inspires Awe 

    Go to bed early

    The most obvious advice for having more energy is also the most important. If you don’t get enough sleep, there’s more odds of you feeling less energetic and having less productive days. Seven to eight hours of sleep is the recommended amount for staying energized and for keeping your mind sharp in the long run. Develop a sleep routine and it will become part of the body’s muscle memory.

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    Use your mornings for the hard work

    While some people leave important work for the nighttime, this is likely not due to their own choosing. Time constraints, juggling different jobs and other pressures might force you to push off important tasks for later on in the day, leaving you feeling unmotivated and without energy. Young argues that getting the important stuff out of the way during the first 4 hours of your work day is important because it shapes the rest of your day and makes you feel accomplished.

    RELATED: 5 Self-Care Tips You Wish You Had Adopted Sooner

    Focus on the solution and not the problem

    Focusing on the problem rarely helps. Instead, it only wastes your time and energy as you go over it repeatedly in your mind. Such brooding can leave you exhausted from fear and worry and prevent you from taking decisive action. Many people spend a lot of time and energy trying to understand, describe, and quantify the problem they are facing, but this can be a waste of time if it takes away from finding a solution.

    Invest in good friends

    Friends have a positive influence on you, especially if conversations with them can make you feel energized and inspired. Focus on these kinds of friendships, the ones that make you feel like there’s a two way relationship where you feel heard but you also get to listen.

    heres how you can share your bed without losing quality of sleep
    Photo by Elizabeth Livermore/Getty Images

    Take 20 minute naps

    While naps are considered a luxury, studies prove that they produce some cognitive benefits and that they can motivate you to complete a task late in the day. The most important aspect of naps is to limit them to 20 minutes, preventing it from becoming a long sleep and eating up the rest of your day.

    Exercise daily

    Going to the gym every day sounds like a tall order, especially if you’re not already in the habit of doing so. Young recommends doing pushups, burpees and other types of exercises you can do at home throughout the day, getting your body moving without taking large chunks of time from your schedule. These can be supplemented with visits to the gym and fitness classes.

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    Sarah Johns

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  • Why ‘Quiet Fridays’ Are the First Step Towards a 4-Day Workweek | Entrepreneur

    Why ‘Quiet Fridays’ Are the First Step Towards a 4-Day Workweek | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    When I first read Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Workweek a decade ago, it planted a bug in my brain to always look for ways to balance productivity with sustainable life rhythms. I didn’t know if living like that was even possible, but I was intrigued. As a former pastor turned entrepreneur who values both healthy work culture and optimal performance, I was fascinated by the notion of shorter workweeks from the get-go. The statistics around 4-day workweeks were compelling.

    Related: The Case for a 4-Day Work Week

    But as the founder of a brand consultancy with limited cash reserves, I knew I couldn’t immediately offer everyone a 4-day workweek and expect cash flow to stay healthy in the short term. I quickly classified the 4-day workweek as something only big corporations could afford to do. With their exorbitant bottom lines, surely they could take the risk, “But not a sub-$1m revenue company like ours!” I’d mutter to myself, alone in my shed-office. Fortunately, I stayed haunted by the idea for long enough to press through my cynicism and find something intriguing to try.

    I want to share a concept we implemented at our brand consultancy a few years ago that continues to reap rewards for everyone involved — we call it “Quiet Fridays.”

    Imagine this: a bustling office (or burbling Slack channels) from Monday through Thursday, with teams collaborating, innovating and driving the company forward. You’re proud of the pace and productivity. They’re meeting with clients, pitching new ideas, selling future work… And then comes Friday — and all of a sudden — crickets. Slack is a ghost town. You check your calendar, and it’s wide open. Everything has slowed down by design. Fridays are set aside for uninterrupted deep work, reflection and rejuvenation. This is the essence of our Quiet Fridays.

    We simply decided to stop scheduling client-facing meetings on Fridays to create a margin for ourselves. What a novel idea!

    And the remarkable thing was — clients didn’t mind. They’re typically inspired by it. They respect the intentionality we have around creating (and protecting) margins. If they’ve trusted us to rework their brand strategies or articulate some new expression of their company, they want us to have uninterrupted time to dedicate to it. It’s for everyone’s benefit.

    Related: Why Combining Company Culture with Strategy is Necessary for Lasting Business Success

    What does “quiet” mean for you?

    You might be saying to yourself, “Cool. Glad that worked for you, but there’s no way I could implement this at my ______ company.” Which is precisely why I’m writing this article. This concept is implementable across the board. All you have to do is define what “quiet” means for you.

    With our brand consultancy, one of the most important things we do is meet with our clients. It’s essential to our success. Clients hire us to spend time with them. Apart from that, we’re out of business. But meeting with clients can be draining, especially if you’re giving them your best attention. It’s exhausting to sell ideas and inspire other leaders to dream of their brands in fresh ways. That is why I knew “quiet” meant no client-facing meetings. When I first shared the idea with my team on a Zoom call, I could see little pixelated tears of joy forming in the corners of their eyes.

    One of the companies I’ve invested in is a cannabis farm in Maine. We breed, cultivate, and package products to distribute around the state. Those employees don’t meet with clients or sit around all day at desks talking on Slack. So, what does “quiet” mean for them? How can we implement Quiet Fridays for them? Ask them!

    Maybe we plan Friday’s goals earlier in the week, and people can enjoy a self-guided day — productive yet paced a bit slower. Maybe Fridays become a time to focus on genetic hunting or rainy day projects that always seem to be pushed off to another day.

    Our employees at the brand consultancy will sometimes use the time to work on internal marketing ideas — either content or updating our website. (Guess when I’m writing this article? A Friday morning.) And if people find themselves with very little to do, they quietly take the rest of the day off. They’ve clearly earned it if they’ve tackled everything on their lists.

    Related: 100 UK Businesses Go All In On 4-Day Workweek

    If you’re in the startup world, there’s a good chance you have other stakeholders watching what you’re doing (or breathing down your neck), and if you proposed a 4-day workweek, your investors would lose their marbles. Quiet Fridays are a great way to invest in your internal culture without being too disruptive of others’ expectations of you. It’s a subtle enough tweak that hopefully doesn’t require anyone’s approval other than yours.

    So, if you find yourself in a leadership position or leading a team within a larger company, I dare you to exercise that bit of autonomy and consider Quiet Fridays for your team. If you’re already scheduled for the next month or so, pick a Friday next month and ask everyone to begin guarding that day. Put a recurring event on the calendar called Quiet Friday and invite your whole team to it. Try it. Test it. Tweak it. And see what Quiet Fridays might add to the efficacy and joy of those around you.

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    John Emery

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